Jaume Collet-Serra to Direct the Action Thriller “Kate Warne”

Jaume Collet-Serra is back in action

The 49-year-old Spanish-American film director and producer will direct the action thriller Kate Warne for Amazon, MGM and Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions.

Jaume Collet-SerraCollet-Serra is directing from script by Melissa Stack. Gustin Nash penned the first draft of the film built around Warne, a real-life Sherlock Holmes. She was the first female detective at the Pinkerton Agency and paved the way for future women in law enforcement and forever changed how detective work was done.

Seven Bucks’ Johnson, Hiram and Dany Garcia are producing.

Emily Blunt is also producing for her Ledburry Productions banner, but with an eye to star in the film. There are no current acting deals in place, according to Deadline.

Stack co-wrote Godmothered for Disney with Kari Granlund. Stack also penned The Other Woman for 20th Century Fox. She also wrote and is attached to direct Family Vacation at 20th.

Collet-Serra previously directed Seven Bucks’ Black Adam and Jungle Cruise.

His other credits include The Shallows, Non-Stop, The Commuter and Orphan.

Michael Cuesta to Direct Pilot Episode of Marvel Studios’ “Daredevil: Born Again”

Michael Cuesta is born again

The 59-year-old Latino director, who helmed the pilots for shows like Dexter and Homeland, will direct the first episode of Marvel Studios’ Daredevil: Born Again.

Michael CuestaProduction on the 18-episode Disney+ series begins this month in New York and marks the true integration of characters that began life on Netflix, when the streamer had a slate of Marvel series in the mid-2010s, into the popular and dominant Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Charlie Cox, who starred as Matt Murdoch, aka Daredevil, the man without fear, is reprising his role for the series after making brief and teasing cameos in Spider-Man: No Way Home and She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

Vincent D’Onofrio is back as Wilson Fisk, the Kingpin of Crime — his first appearance in the MCU was a cameo in Hawkeye — and Jon Bernthal is returning as the hard-edged vigilante known as the Punisher.

Other actors on the call sheet include Michael Gandolfini, Margarita Levieva and Sandrine Holt, the latter of whom is playing Vanessa Fisk, the wife of Fisk. Michael Gaston (Chicago P.D., Mayor of Kingstown) is also in the series.

Born Again takes its title from a landmark Daredevil storyline published in 1986, written by Frank Miller and drawn by David Mazzuchelli. The show is deviating from that plot, although by how much is unclear. The Punisher, for example, made no appearance in the comic story. Daredevil versus Wilson Fisk, aka the Kingpin, remains the focal point.

Writers and executive producers Matt Corman and Chris Ord are behind the show, which is expected to bow in the spring of 2024. Cuesta is only directing the opening episode, according to sources. Other directors are being lined up to helm blocks of episodes.

Cuesta is one of the top helmers in the pilot game. In addition to directing the pilots for Dexter and Homeland, both acclaimed gritty dramas and for which he earned an Emmy nomination on the latter, he also directed the pilots for police show Blue Blood and procedural Sherlock Holmes mystery show Elementary.

Directing a pilot is an important task as it normally sets the casting, tone, and look of a series and is seen as a test for a show’s promise as well as a chance to put its best foot forward. And while in the streaming age many shows tend to be given straight-up series orders, helming the first episode remains equally as important.

Other recent series work for Cuesta includes episodes of Dopesick and Billions, and he also directed the action thriller American Assassin, which starred Dylan O’Brien and Michael Keaton.

Olguín to Direct English-Language Version of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”

Jorge Olguín is (hunch)back with a new project…

The Chilean horror filmmaker is set to direct an English version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Jorge Olguín

The ambitious project, with a more than $2 million budget, could make Olguín a bigger name in the U.S.

“I really think it’s what will catapult [him] to the next level,” said Olguín’s U.S. agent Chris Sablan of Original Artists.

Sablan’s client Peter Carlisle is penning the screenplay for the film tentatively titled The Hunchback.

“Visually he wants to shoot it a la Sin City, but storywise it’s Batman meets Sherlock Holmes,” said Sablan.

Talks are underway between Sablan and potential U.S. co-producers.

Olguin is also on track to film Indolencia, a self-written project based on the true case of a serial killer who murdered 16 young girls in Chile’s Atacama Desert region.

“This is probably my next film, which will shoot in early 2015,” said Olguín.

In 2002, Olguín released Sangre Eterna, a vampire film that became a cult classic and one of the highest grossing Latin American horror films.

He most recently worked on Whispers in the Forest, Chile’s first 3D feature.

Walsh’s “The Starving Games” Hitting Theaters In November

Maiara Walsh will be starving for box office attention this November…

Ketchup Entertainment has acquired the distribution rights to The Starving Games for a November 8 theatrical release.

Maiara Walsh

The film, which stars the 25-year-old Brazilian American actress, is a satire of the blockbuster-hit film The Hunger Games.

From spoofmeisters Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer –the masterminds behind Scary Movie, Epic Movie and Date Movie – follows a young girl named Kantmiss (portrayed by Walsh) as she participates in a barbaric annual competition against fellow youngsters.

In addition to Walsh, the film also stars Cody Christian, Lauren Bowles, Brant Daugherty and Diedrich Bader.

The parody pic will also take aim at other pop culture phenomenons including The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes, Harry Potter, Psy and Taylor Swift.

Walsh’s credits include Desperate Housewives, Cory in the House and Switched at Birth.

Walsh Cast as the Lead in “The Hunger Games” Spoof

It looks like Maiara Walsh is the latest tribute headed to the arena… Well, sort of!

The 24-year-old half-Brazilian actress has been cast as the female lead in a parody of Jennifer Lawrence’s blockbuster film The Hunger Games.

Maiara Walsh

In the film entitled The Starving Games, Walsh will portray a character named Kantmiss Evershot, based on Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games.

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the duo behind Date Movie, Meet the Spartans and Vampires Suck, wrote the script and will direct the parody. Along with mocking Suzanne Collins book series, the film will also spoof The Avengers, Sherlock Holmes and the finale of the Harry Potter franchise.

Pretty Little Liars actor Brant Daugherty has already been cast as the parody version of Gale, played in The Hunger Games by Liam Hemsworth.

Shooting on The Starving Games begins this week in New Orleans.

Walsh, known more for her dramatic roles, co-stars as the devious Simone Sinclair on ABC Family’s Switched at Birth and has appeared on The Secret Life of the American Teenager, the CW‘s The Vampire Diaries and ABC’s Desperate Housewives.

Cuesta to Helm CBS Studios’ Sherlock Homes Pilot…

He recently received a DGA Award nomination from the Directors Guild of America for directing the pilot episode of Showtime’s Golden Globe-winning new drama Homeland… And, now Michael Cuesta has signed a lucrative contract to work on another highly anticipated television project.

The 48-year-old Latino filmmaker has signed a seven-figure deal with CBS TV Studios that starts immediately and runs through June 1, 2013.

Michael Cuesta

As part of the pact, Cuesta will direct and executive produce the pilot for the studio’s modern interpretation of Sherlock Holmes, a drama entitled Elementary that features the pipe-smoking private eye living and working in New York City.

In addition, he’ll be responsible for developing the series for the next fall television season, according to Deadline.com.

Cuesta will most likely write the pilot, which he’ll direct if green-lighted. If not, he’ll direct another pilot for CBS TV Studios next season.

The overall deal won’t interfere with Cuesta’s current duties on Homeland, where he’ll continue as an executive producer and the primary director at least through the second season.

Cuesta had previously worked with CBS TV Studios, directing the pilot for the CBS drama series Blue Bloods. He also directed the pilot of Showtime’s Dexter.

Rapace Taps Into Her Latin Roots for Sherlock Role…

She’s the original Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, but Noomi Rapace could also be called “the girl of Latin-descent.”

The 31-year-old Swedish-born actress is the daughter of Rogelio Durán, a flamenco singer/dancer from Badajoz, Spain.

Noomi Rapace

Rapace was able to tap into her Spanish roots to prepare for her role in the highly anticipated film, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

“My father was a flamenco dancer in Spain,” explains Rapace, who will star as a Gypsy fortune teller in the sequel to the 2009 blockbuster hit Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. “So I think my doing this was meant to be.”

In the latest installment of Sherlock Holmes, Rapace—in her first English-speaking role—even shares a sexy dancing scene with Law. And, should could prove to be a serious love interest for Holmes.

Noomi Rapace in Millenium Series Films

Rapace rose to fame by starring as Lisbeth Salander in the Swedish/Danish big screen adaptations of late author Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium series” books, which resulted in numerous best actress award nominations for the actress.

Even though she won’t be starring in the American versions of the “Millennium series” movies, Sherlock marks just the beginning of her Hollywood career. She’s currently filming the thriller, Prometheus.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Homes: A Game of Shadows opens nationwide this Friday, December 16.